Friday, July 2, 2010

There was no reason why I shouldn't have been sent for the beer that day, for the last ends of the Fairmont National Bank case had been gathered in the week before and there was nothing for me to do but errands, and Wolfe never hesitated about running me down to Murray Street for a can of shoe-polish if he happened to need one.

This is a really great first sentence because it establishes that there are at least three characters in Nero Wolfe's world -- Wolfe, the narrator, and whoever was sent for the beer -- that there is some history as detectives, even though this is the very first Nero Wolfe novel, and they drink beer. I love it.

I have been on a classic mystery series jag for awhile. I recently started Dorthy L. Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey series, P. D. James's Adam Dalgliesh series, and now Rex Stout's famous Nero Wolfe series. I cannot believe that I have never read any of these before. But my dereliction means I can start at the beginning of each series and read them in order.

NOTE

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a Friday fun "opening sentence" event hosted by Becky at Page Turners. Post the opening sentence of the book(s) you started this week and see what other books people have going.